How did the Avengers: Endgame Influence Ant-Man 3

Ant-Man is drawing some very big inspiration from the events of Avengers: Endgame.

The third Ant-Man movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, will land in theaters February 17, 2023.

Director Peyton Reed and star Paul Rudd revealed that “The Snap” from 2019’s Endgame still has huge ramifications for Ant-Man and, more specifically, his alter ego Scott Lang.

As a refresher: After surviving Thanos’ infamous finger snap, Scott was reunited with daughter Cassie (Emma Fuhrmann), now five years older, at the conclusion of Endgame. Kathryn Newton will now play Cassie in Quantumania.

“[Scott]’s daughter Cassie is 18 in this movie now because of the events that happened in Endgame,” Peyton said. “What is that like for Scott Lang? His daughter is not a little girl anymore. She’s a young woman.”

2023 will bring the start of Phase 5 of the MCU with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, one of the franchise’s most pivotal movies since the Infinity Saga ended.

Quantumania takes Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang and Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne deep into the Quantum Realm, allowing them to learn more about it after Scott used the realm to save half of humanity in Avengers: Endgame. Although there are exciting new developments such as Scott Lang’s upgraded Ant-Man suit and the introduction of Cassie Lang as a hero, the team will be up against its toughest foe yet in Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror.

Rudd discussed what he loves most about playing Ant-Man, noting how much fun it is playing “kind of a regular guy” who struggles with his status as a superhero:

“Well, it’s fun to play a kind of a regular guy, who’s thrown into these extraordinary circumstances. And you know, a guy who seems to be somewhat conflicted about being a superhero. And so to try and play against that, and be somewhat relatable, and still do crazy things, it’s a really fun challenge and it’s fun to do every single time.”

He added “It’s always a fun thing to be able to come back and play Scott Lang again and work with within Marvel, which is such an incredible thing… I never get used to it. And meet some new people this time around, see some old friends and you know, just every time, it’s like… I never really get used to it. I just still kind of sit back and ‘marvel…’ [at] how fun these films are, how exciting it is to shoot them, and what an honor it is to be a part of it.”

Ant-Man 3 will unquestionably be the biggest movie of the trilogy thanks to the introduction of Kang the Conqueror after his Variant, He Who Remains, first debuted in 2021’s Loki. But that’s far from the only big name set and/or rumored for inclusion in this Quantum-centric sequel.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that MODOK will play a major role in the proceedings, although his specific storyline still remains a mystery. That surprising cameo that Reed and Rudd spoke about could in fact be Corey Stoll, who is rumored to be playing MODOK in this movie after starring in the first Ant-Man as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket.

Cross was last seen being sucked into the Quantum Realm at the end of the first Ant-Man movie, and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since that time. Should he return as MODOK, that would certainly count for a surprising MCU cameo, especially with the way Rudd described seeing “some old friends” in his third solo movie.

Whether these comments mean more than just Corey Stoll is still a mystery, but considering Marvel’s penchant for bringing surprises, there is likely plenty more to be revealed in the coming months.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will debut in theaters on February 17, 2023.